Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Uganda Proposes Death Penalty for Gays

David Cato, a Ugandan gay rights activist, poses at a restaurant in Kampala, Uganda, Dec. 8, 2009. Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family, friends and even landlords also could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Cato became an activist after he was beaten up, arrested, and fired from his job because he is gay.Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals.

Gay rights activists say the bill, which has prompted growing international opposition, promotes hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. They believe the bill is part of a continentwide backlash because Africa's gay community is becoming more vocal.

"It's a question of visibility," said David Cato, who became an activist after he was beaten up four times, arrested twice, fired from his teaching job and outed in the press because he is gay. "When we come out and ask for our rights, they pass laws against us."

The legislation has drawn global attention from activists across the spectrum of views on gay issues. The measure was proposed in Uganda following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy for gays to become heterosexual. However, at least one of those leaders has denounced the bill, as have some other conservative and liberal Christians in the United States.

Gay rights activists say the legislation is likely to pass. But the bill is still being debated and could undergo changes before a vote, which has not yet been set.

The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. "Serial offenders" also could face capital punishment, but the legislation does not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.

Anyone who "aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality" faces seven years in prison if convicted. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with "religious, political, economic or social authority" who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.

Gay rights activists abroad are focusing on the legislation. A protest against the bill is planned for Thursday in London; protests were held last month in New York and Washington. ...

via Uganda Proposes Death Penalty for Gays - CBS News.

Wikipedia:
The President of Uganda, currently Yoweri kaguta Museveni, is both head of state and head of government. ...

According to the census of 2002, Christians made up about 84% of Uganda's population...

Recently, grassroots organizations have been attempting to raise awareness about the children who were kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army to work as soldiers or be used as wives. Thousands of children as young as eight were captured and forced to kill. The documentary film Invisible Children illustrates the terrible lives of the children, known as night commuters, who still to this day leave their villages and walk many miles each night to avoid abduction.

In October 2009, a bill was tabled in the Parliament of Uganda entitled "The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009" calling for harsher penalties for homosexuals, up to and including the death penalty. This law also requires that any citizen who suspects another person of being homosexual, is required to report the homosexual to police, or they too may receive a fine or time in prison.  The proposed bill goes so far as to forbid landlords from renting to a known homosexual, and would ban any public discussion of homosexuality. Under the proposed law, people who test positive for HIV may be executed.

1 comment:

Omar said...

Why is the West so hypocritical? Why the duplicity and the applying of double standards?

They accept and support homosexuality which they Westerners find normal. They find normal even same sex ‘marriages’. They accept a man or a woman to have as many partners as he or she wants; but, you come down hard and are very harsh on polygamy. A man who gets married to more than one woman, even if the women are consenting is sent to jail; how can we forget the extreme harshness that was used on the Utah polygamists!

Polygamy is normal in Africa but we have never tried to force it on Europeans or Americans. Homosexuality is alien and repugnant to us, don’t try to force it on us.